Authors pick thriller, detective genres for debut books

New Delhi: First-time authors seem to be choosing thriller and detective stories to venture into fiction writing, with new books in these genres hitting bookshelves.

"Thriller stories are more gripping than any other genre for both readers as well as authors. There is more freedom to the author while writing be it in the characterisation or the plot," says Aroon Raman whose debut "The Shadow Throne" published by Macmillan was released recently.

Aroon who is working on a sequel says, "There are not many established Indian writers when it comes to English crime fiction like Surendra Mohan Pathak in Hindi. Hence the floor is very much open to debut authors."

Another author Upendra Namburi, a banking and finance professional who marked his writing debut with "31", a thriller says, "The subjects being written about have evolved significantly over the last few years and so have the tastes of the readers. This is also led by the explosion of content across media including television and movies."

"It also reflects the nature of lives that are led by us these days and our aspirations for 'thrills'. This is a genre that is seeing increasing interest both amongst debut and established authors" says Namburi who is in process of writing a series of numbers triumvirate with the next two books titled "60" and "8".

Multiple foreign authors whose thriller and detective novels are all time bestsellers say these genres are not only enjoyed in novel writing but in theatre as well.

Ovidia Yu a novelist, short-story writer and playwright whose debut detective novel "Miss Moorthy Investigates" first published in 1989 was released in India recently by Westland books says that be it fiction or nonfiction the genre has all the elements which an author or a reader could ask for.

"Death, murder, crime, curiosity, fear all of them blended together with focus on minute details offers unmatchable thrilling experience to the author. Once a debut author gets that kind of satisfaction it boosts his confidence to experiment with other genres as well," she says.

However, Ovidia believes that writing detective and thriller stories for books is a different experience than writing for plays.

"While writing plays the author has to keep in mind that the curiosity and fear has not be generated from the writing alone, there is a director too to take control of the characters and the plot, whereas while writing a book its only between the author and editor, so there is more creative freedom," she says.

Other recent books in the same category are "The Masala Murder" by Madhumita Bhattacharya and "Mumbaistan" by Piyush Jha.